HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/13/2020 - City Council - City Council Meeting Minutes - Jerrilea Crawford
2-13-2020 Council Workshop Minutes Page 1 of 3
CITY OF EAST WENATCHEE
271 9th Street NE * East Wenatchee, WA 98802
Phone (509) 884-9515 * Fax (509) 886-6233
City Council Workshop
East Wenatchee City Hall
271 9th St. NE
East Wenatchee, WA 98802
Minutes
Thursday, February 13, 2020
In attendance: Lori Barnett, Community Development Director
Mayor Crawford Josh DeLay, Finance Director
Councilmember Sterk Devin Poulson, City Attorney
Councilmember Raab Trina Elmes, Events Director / PIO
Councilmember Tidd Tom Wachholder, Proj. Development Manager
Councilmember Magdoff Garren Melton, Natural Resource Specialist
Councilmember Johnson Maria Holman, City Clerk
5:30 p.m. Council Workshop.
Mayor Crawford opened the meeting.
1. Mayor Crawford welcomed Council vacancy candidates and provided ground
rules for the interviews, each candidate will be allowed to speak to the Council, the
Council will have the time to ask questions. The Council may go into executive
session after the interviews.
Council Vacancy Interviews
i. Dennis Hendricks spoke to Council regarding his qualifications to be
Councilmember.
Questions and comments provided by Councilmember Tidd,
Councilmember Sterk, and Councilmember Magdoff.
ii. Sasha Sleiman spoke to Council regarding her qualifications to be
Councilmember.
Question and comments provided by Councilmember Magdoff,
Councilmember Sterk, and Councilmember Johnson.
iii. Lacy Stockton spoke to Council regarding her qualifications to be
Councilmember.
Questions and comments by Councilmember Tidd, Councilmember Sterk,
and Councilmember Magdoff.
2-13-2020 Council Workshop Minutes Page 2 of 3
2. Council vacancy applicants were asked if they were prepared to serve and run for
Council in 2021. All applicants replied that they are willing to commit, serve and run
for Council in 2021.
3. Executive Session: The Council went into executive session at 6:05 p.m., for 15
minutes to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment. The
Workshop Meeting resumed at 6:20 p.m., no action was taken by the Council.
4. Finance Director Josh DeLay presented a year end report. The City ended the year
with 6.8 million dollars at the end of December. The finance director presented a
2010 – 2019 graph that provided the yearly cash balance increase. A general fund
chart was provided showing a five year decrease of approximately 200,000. The
reasons provided for the decrease in growth /slower increase was due to the
properties the City purchased in 2019 at an approximate cost of $500,000.
5. Lori Barnett, Community Development Director spoke to Council regarding HB 1406,
which is based upon the amount of 2019 sales tax. The City had talked about
implementing a Sales and Use Tax in the past but decided against it due to the
potential loss of the car tab tax. The City passed a Notice of Intent in August 2019
for HB 1406. Douglas County has passed its Notice of Intent and has implemented a
tax. The County is going to recieve .0146% of use and sales tax in the County and
.0073% inside the City limits.
Ms. Barnett provided information regarding options the City has for use of funds. Ms.
Barnett mentioned that we could work with the local housing organizations, she
suggestind using the funds for the rental assistance programs. The City can decide
how to use funds for rental assistance within RCW guidelines. Ms Barnett also
proposed possibly working with local builders to buy up local housing units that are
in default, pick them up, fix them up, and sell them. This would be using local
developers and could be partnered with the first-time home buyer programs while
partnering with local agencies.
Ms. Barnett stated that the City has until July 2020 to pass an Ordinance. Ms.
Barnett asked the Council for guidance on how to proceed. Council asked Ms.
Barnett to proceed with an Ordinance to create a new fund and a new section to the
EWMC that will allow the City to take advantage of the tax, for affordable housing.
The Council expressed a preference to use the fund for affordable housing and not
as homeless funds.
6. Community Development Director Lori Barnett asked Council to prioritize a list of
items identified in previous meetings that have not been addressed if they would like
to have them reviewed in the future. The following list was discussed and prioritized
in the following order.
1. Regulation of group homes.
2. Nuisance Code – adding more requirements for property condition issues that
were brought up due to the property on Baker Ave and including Noxious
weeds – goatheads etc.
3. Regulations of cats – add licensing requirements like the City of Wenatchee.
4. Briarwood Terrace entrance – Change to no parking area.